Unexpected
by L. Elizabeth1
Summary: Sakura never expected to be saved from Sasuke. Especially not by Sasuke's older brother.
1. Rescue

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ITS CHARACTERS, PLACES, OR SITUATIONS. I DO HOWEVER OWN MY OWN CHARACTERS AND SITUATIONS. PLEASE READ THIS CAUSE IT WILL BE THE LAST DISCLAIMER.

A/N: This story will be an Itachi/ Sakura one. Sorry to all you Sasuke fans, but he will be a lot darker in this story.

Preface: Sakura is twenty years old, and the head medic in Konoha's hospital. Sasuke hasn't returned and any attempts at getting him back have all failed. Naruto finally realizes Hinata loves him, and starts seeing her without her father's consent. Tsunade has just sent Sakura to a neighboring village to bring medicine and treat the people there for a common illness that they can't seem to get over. This is regarded as a priority mission, Sakura is sent alone because the land she is crossing is not hostel or enemy territory, and Tsunade can afford too many shinobi to leave the village due to hostilities between Konoha and Sound.

* * *

Chapter 1

Sakura jumped from one tree to the next, her short pink hair whipping around her face as the wind came from behind her. She grumbled slightly and paused on a branch to re-secure her hair in a half pony tail. She had been traveling for a day, but still had two to go before she reached the small village.

She continued on until it was to dark to travel safely. As a medic, she knew what crashing into a tree at full speed in the dark could do to one's body. She rolled out her sleeping bag and set up a small fire to cook rice with. After dinner, she searched the perimeter of her camp, and placed alerting seals all around, just in case someone wanted to sneak up on her in the middle of the night.

She laid her head down and drifted off into a light sleep, plagued with dreams.

"Don't go! I'll scream!" Sakura yelled to her friend, the boy she had loved most of her life, her partner, Sasuke. He vanished in front of her and appeared behind her.

"Sakura… Thank you." He whispered and knocked her out.

Sakura awoke with a start, looking around nervously before remembering where she was. It was about three in the morning, and the sun was no where near the horizon yet. She took a deep breath and tried to pry the thoughts of the night Sasuke left from her mind. His leaving had scarred her terribly, and she often wondered if she was stronger, would he have ever left? She became stronger, faster, and a better person after he left, not only to prove to the world that she could. That she wasn't a weak shallow girl who chased after Naruto and Sasuke because they could protect her. She proved it to her self that she was powerful, and that she could save people's lives.

Sakura, giving up on sleep, stood up and started packing her camp up. When everything was packed, she turned to leave in the direction of the village, the sun was just on the horizon giving enough light to travel slowly by. As she turned to head out, her eyes locked on a pair of red sharingan eyes. She gasped and jumped back, not knowing how someone could have gotten so close without her even realizing it.

"Sasuke?" She gasped. He gave an arrogant smirk and locked her unsuspecting eyes in his sharingan. She fell under the pressure of his gaze, loosing consciousness quickly.

"Well that was easy." Suigetsu laughed. Karin just rolled her eyes and placed the chakra drain seal on the unconscious girl's back. Sasuke looked on from a distance, feeling the chakra drain out of the pink haired girl.

Sasuke knew the only way to get his Mangekyo Sharingan was to kill his best friend, Naruto. To do that, he needed to lure him out with the one thing Sasuke knew Naruto would protect; Sakura.

* * *

"Hey, she is coming around." Jugo said quietly. Sasuke's team stepped back, just in case the seal didn't work, they knew about her power and wasn't going to risk their necks for a failed plan.

Sakura stirred and opened her eyes. She felt drained of most of her chakra and nauseous because of it. She looked around and saw three people she didn't know, and one she knew all to well. She sat up, only to be kicked down by Suigetsu with a laugh. She winced and tried to sit up again. She looked at Sasuke, who's eyes had turned back to their coal like natural color.

"What is going on?" She asked forcefully, knowing that she didn't have the energy to back her attitude but not wanting to look weak.

"It is time I severed my last ties Sakura. You will bring Naruto to me, with your screams." Sasuke said darkly. Sakura's eyes widened before Suigetsu pounced on her. Karin and Jugo restrained her arms and legs as Suigetsu slowly started to undo her clothing. She screamed for him to stop, for Sasuke to help her. Sasuke turned his back, not being able to watch what was going to happen to the girl he knew to be innocent. He wanted power and he would get it at any cost.

"You were my friend Sasuke! I trusted you with my life!" Sakura screamed. She was panicking now. "Naruto wont be able to hear me all the way out here you know!" she tried to reason, but Suigetsu was down to her bra and panties.

"It is a preview darling, don't think that this will be the last time." Suigetsu said darkly, licking her cheek which was stained with tears. Sasuke closed his mind to the screams of protest. Soon he would defeat his old friend and have the power needed to kill his brother at last. Sakura would understand one day, he thought.

Just as Suigetsu was about to lower himself on to Sakura's naked body, a crash came through the woods. Suigetsu, Jugo, and Karin were flung backwords twenty feet in the air, hitting trees. Sasuke turned to face the intruders, only to be met with another Sharingan.

Sakura scrambled to put her clothes on as she watched in horror of the two men who saved her. Kisame targeted the three snake team mates as Itachi stared down his brother.

"This cant be happening." Sakura whispered to herself.

Itachi and Sasuke began to battle.

Sakura tried to run away, but was quickly stopped by a kunai in the side by Karin.

"You wont get away, bitch!" she screamed and lounged at Sakura. Sakura blocked the hits as best as she could with no chakra left in her body. She was soon hit in the face and in the stomach, knocking her out for the second time.

"You will never defeat me brother, do you know why?" Itachi growled at Sasuke. His anger was radiating off of him in waves so strong, Kisame had been frightened. Sasuke coughed up blood.

"I would never sink as low as you to gain power. I may have killed pathetic weaklings, but I did so quickly and merciously. You torture this girl, your old team mate, who fought at your side for power? If you want her dead, you should have killed her, not this Sasuke. Think on it, and when you are strong enough to realize that your lazy ways to gain power will never work, then come and fight me. For now, live with the fact that you may have ruined your soul for nothing." Itachi threw Sasuke to the ground and picked up the bleeding pink haired kunoichi.

"What are you going to do with her?" Kisame asked suspiciously, wiping his bloody sword on Karin's dead body.

"She is one of the best medics in the world, she will heal my eyes for payment of us saving her life." Itachi answered coldly.

Itachi may be a cold hearted murderer who killed his entire clan, but he thought that raping a girl who could not defend herself was dishonorable. He had been trailing the girl for the last few miles, coming to realize she was Haruno Sakura, the apprentice of Tsunade. His eye sight had gotten to the point of near blindness, and the pain it was causing him was starting to become unbearable. When he saw Sasuke not coming to her defence, Itachi realized that he wanted her pain and blood to lure his old friend Naruto to him. Disguested with his brother, he surged forward to stop the crime against the medic.

He felt strange when he attacked his brother, as if he was on fire with rage. He couldn't understand what these emotions were and why he was felt them at the sight of the crumpled girl in his arms. Something deep and primal jumped to the surface when she was being attacked. It told him to take her for himself, that she belonged to him and that no one was to touch her but him. He needed the medic to regain his sight, but the animal inside him wanted more, and it unnerved Itachi greatly.

"We need to get her to the base, she is loosing a lot of blood." Kisame said loudly, breaking Itachi from his thoughts.

"Hn." He responded and quickened his pace.

* * *

A/N: This one will be darker than my other fics. Please read and review! 


	2. Primal

Disclaimer: READ THE OTHER DISCLAIMERS

A/N: Wow all those wonderful reviews were _Unexpected_… hehe. Thank you so much to those who reviewed, I will try to update as much as I can as soon as I can. If I do review it will probably be up from 1pm-9pm eastern standard time. After 9, don't expect it until the next day. Because of the wonderful encouragement, here is another chapter!

Chapter 2

Sakura opened her eyes to a dark room. She was lying on a large bed with black sheets and a black comforter. There were no windows and she could smell earth all around her, and she figured she was underground. She tried to sit up, only to be brought back down by the pain in her side. Usually pain had no effect on her, but because she still hadn't regained any chakra, the pain seemed to be intensified.

She went over what had happened in her mind, but none of it made sense. Itachi and Kisame, two Akatsuki S-Class criminals, who have no problem with murder and mass destruction, saved her from someone she once thought of as a friend.

As all the confusing information flooded her brain, she realized that she was probably being held captive by someone. Her eyes wandered to the closed door where she sensed someone standing outside of it.

'Probably a guard.' She thought. 'How do I get into these situations? I should have been paying more attention, and my guard was let down when I saw Sasuke. He betrayed the village; I shouldn't have trusted him not to hurt me for a moment. This is all my fault.'

Just as Sakura was concluding her self bashing, the door unlocked and someone walked in.

Itachi thought hard about the strange feelings, not daring to confide in anyone that he actually HAD feelings to begin with. The pink haired medic was resting in his room in the underground base he shared with some of the other Akatsuki members. She had lost a lot of blood, and it was necessary for him to donate his own blood to keep her alive. The medic that treated the Akatsuki members was mystified when he was summoned to treat a beautiful young woman instead of the battle hardened, mostly psychotic criminals he was used to. He felt the moment she woke, his senses being on high alert.

Kisame looked at the Uchiha uneasily. Since he had fought his brother, Itachi had been acting very unlike himself. Usually he was quiet, reserved and extremely polite, unless you made him mad. Kisame had never before witnessed the side of Itachi he was seeing now. He noticed Itachi tense and then move quickly up the stairs to the room where the girl was being held. Kisame shook his head in disbelief at what he was witnessing. He looked over to the blonde mad bomber in the corner and decided to ask him if he had noticed anything strange.

"Itachi is acting strange, yeah. I've never seen him show such a flurry of emotion, going from anger, to tense worry, to having a sadistic look on his face; its strange, yeah." Deidara looked to the stairs where the dark haired Uchiha had just walked up. Kisame nodded and warned Deidara to keep clear of Itachi for a while, or at least until the girl was gone or dead.

* * *

Itachi walked in the room slowly, as if not sure he wanted to go in, but not being able to wait to enter. He narrowed his eyes at the thoughts in his head and looked over to the small woman laying in his bed. She was obviously in pain, but was putting on a brave face to not show any fear. Itachi smirked and moved over to the bed, sitting on the edge, looking away from the girl.

"Where am I?" She asked shakily, pain coming though in her voice.

"Safe, for now." He answered calmly, never looking at her.

"Did you kill Sasuke?" She asked after a pause. There was neither condemnation nor hope in her voice, but it was as if she was asking what the time was. Itachi did turn to face her at that, his Sharingan turned off.

"No." He said simply. Sakura gulped and tried to sit up, only to be pushed back down gently by Itachi. Sakura panicked slightly at the feeling of being held down, but Itachi's voice broke her out of her fright.

"Be still, your injuries have not yet healed. It will take a few days to regain your chakra, so don't leave this room until I give you permission." Sakura calmed down and laid back. She huffed at being ordered to stay put, but being a medic she knew the importance of resting after being injured.

"You will not talk to anyone unless I say you can, and if anyone tries to touch you… they will die." His voice got dark, looking at her like a predator. She felt her heart beat speed up at his words, and nodded to appease the psychopathic murderer.

"Why are you keeping me?" She asked curiously.

"My Sharingan is making me blind, you will heal my eyes." He explained, standing up and moving towards the door.

"What if I wont?" she asked quietly.

"Then you will be of no use to me." He said threateningly. "If you heal my eyes, you will have repaid me for saving your innocence, and I may be persuaded to let you return to your village unharmed. I will give you three days to decide." He said in a more light and less diabolical tone of voice.

She nodded and watched him leave the room, locking the door behind him. She then took a deep, shaky breath. It would be dishonorable not to repay Itachi for saving her, but at the same time she would be aiding her enemy and by healing him it might make him powerful enough to get Naruto. If she didn't heal him, he would surely kill her, but if she did then she would be going home a traitor.

'Seriously, how do I get into these situations?' she thought, resting deeper into the pillow her head was rested on. 'Hmm this pillow smells good, I wonder if this is Itachi's bed.' Her face turned red at the thought and she resolved to not sniff it if it belonged to the enemy. 'A rather hot enemy.' Inner Sakura added. Sakura groaned and lifted herself up to go to the bathroom that was in the room.

After a good forty minutes of maneuvering herself around the room, into the bathroom, and back into bed, she started to think about her friends and how they wouldn't realize she was missing for another week or so. With the thoughts of a worried Naruto and Tsunade in her mind, she drifted off into a restless sleep.

* * *

"_You are nothing to me, you whore!" Sasuke threw her down to the ground. She cried for him to stop, to remember when they were friends. _

"_I love you Sasuke!" she screamed with tears in her eyes. Then Suigetsu was on her again, holding her down and trying to undo her clothes. _

"_C'mon baby, you'll love this!" Suigetsu whispered cruelly in her ear. Sasuke started to laugh as she tried to fight Suigetsu off. _

Sakura sat up in bed, covered in sweat and crying. She looked to the far left corner of the room where a figure of a man was sitting in a chair. She got herself under control when she realized that Itachi was moving towards her.

"Nightmare?" Itachi asked softly, taking a seat on the end of her bed. She nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Was it about the idiot?" Itachi asked with a hint of darkness in his voice.

Sakura nodded again. Itachi got up again and went to the chair he was sitting in before and brought it to the side of her bed.

"Sleep now, you will not dream anymore." He said with boredom, getting more comfortable in the chair. She laid back down, more disturbed than anything that he was acting in a manner she thought someone like the great clan murder Itachi would never be acting in. She had heard that he was ruthless, merciless, and over all a bad kind of guy, but saving a girl in the forest and then sitting by her bedside when she had a nightmare just didn't seem right.

She sneaked a glance at Itachi with one eye opened. He looked back at her and raised an eyebrow. She quickly shut her eye and forced herself into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

When she woke the next morning, Itachi was gone and there was a small plate of food in the chair that Itachi was sitting in the night before. Sakura smiled in spite of herself at the nice arrangement of fruit and bread on the plate.

Deidara and Kisame watched in awe at the cold hearted Uchiha carefully cutting fruit and bread in a decorative manner and put it on a plate for their _prisoner_.

"So Itachi, why…" Deidara began but the hard look in Itachi's Sharingan eye made him think twice about finishing the sentence. He took the food and left the room without a word.

"I think Itachi has lost his mind." Kisame whispered carefully. Looking towards the stairs. Deidara nodded gravely and went to perfect his new jutsu.

Sakura ate the food quickly, noticing that the food was all fresh and carefully cut to avoid seeds and pits.

The door opened and Itachi walked in followed by another man who was wearing a medical apron. The man looked nervously at Itachi who nodded tightly. The medic moved towards her bed with a warm smile, which she returned.

"Good morning. Let me check how your injuries are doing, okay?" She nodded and let his chakra into her body, healing the minor wounds quickly and the deeper ones with more caution.

"Well, just keep in bed until your chakra is fully restored. But other than that you will be fine in a few days." He finished re-wrapping her bandages and left under the scrutinizing gaze of Itachi.

Sakura glanced at Itachi with a raised eyebrow; the look he was giving her was something strange, almost primal. He blinked and shook his head, noticing she saw his control loss he left the room quickly.

Itachi pressed his back against the closed door and breathed deeply. There was something strange going on with him and it was making it impossible for him to control his emotions around the girl. She needed to heal his eyes before he lost his mind.

* * *

A/N: Please read and review. Thank you! 


	3. A Mark

Disclaimer: READ THE OTHER DISCLAIMERS

Chapter 3

"Have you made your decision?" Itachi asked the pink haired kunoichi who was sitting up in his bed. Three days had passed and Sakura had her full chakra back, and wounds had healed into tin scars.

"I will do it." She said sadly. There were many reasons why she shouldn't heal him, but she had to think about the people she could one day save. She wanted to learn everything she could about healing people, and then one day teach her knowledge to an apprentice. She looked up into Itachi's coal eyes. He had started turning off his Sharingan when he was around her, mostly because he thought it would remind her of his brother. He wasn't sure why he care if he scared her or not, but the strange feelings had been escalating to a point that he went out of his way to not scare her.

Itachi moved to the bed, and Sakura moved her legs to sit at the edge of it. They sat side by side for an awkward moment before Sakura cleared her throat and turned to face him, he facing her at the same time.

"I don't know how this will feel, or what I will be able to do, but just try to remain calm and still." Sakura placed her fingers over his face. Pinkies at his temples and thumbs at his eyes, fingers spread evenly on his forehead. She closed her eyes and concentrated on pushing chakra steadily into his retina. There was scar tissue everywhere, and Sakura started the long process of regenerating the cells in his eyes. She was one of the only medics in the world who could regenerate dead cells, and she was by far becoming the best at it.

After an hour or so of work, she pulled her chakra back into herself and closed the connections between them. She opened her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Keep your eyes closed for a few moments." She commanded softly, and went to her pack in the corner of the room. She took out a pair of dark sunglasses and put them on Itachi.

"You need to keep these on for a few hours, I don't want to light to cause you any damage. Oh and don't use the Sharingan for the rest of today, that might reverse everything we just did, ok?"

Itachi nodded and slowly opened his eyes to see the room had become darker with the glasses on. He also noted that he could see outlined shapes; everything was as sharp as it was before he started loosing his sight. He sighed and noticed that the raging pain in his head had ceased.

"You have done well." He said stoically and walked to the door. She rolled her eyes at his grand gesture of gratitude and nodded.

"You may leave in a few weeks. There are still answers I need before you can return to your village." He opened the door.

"Wait, what questions?" she asked with a bit of fire in her voice. That stopped Itachi's progress out the door and made him turn to face her. She had her arms crossed over her chest and she was resting her weight on one foot. Her whole demeanor screamed impatience and disbelief.

"Don't forget your place girl, you are still a prisoner until I say otherwise." He said darkly, causing her to straighten her posture and widen her eyes. Knowing the message had gotten through to her, he left the room, locking the door behind him.

* * *

Sakura stared at the closed door with thoughts racing through her head.

'What is this guy's deal? Does he have multiple personalities or something?' She shook her head and went to her pack to change for the day. She had gotten a routine of washing her clothes in the sink in the bathroom, and hanging them in the shower to dry. This way she had an endless supply of clean clothes, and something to do to keep her mind occupied. She thought about trying to escape several times, but each idea was shot down with the hard truth; they were a lot stronger then she was. Even if it was just Itachi and Kisame in the house, which she knew not to be the case, it still would be impossible. Itachi alone could take her out in seconds, not to mention four or five other Akatsuki.

For now, she would wait, and play to the good side of Itachi's personality. Hopefully he would let her go, like he said he might.

* * *

"Itachi, I think you should visit the seer, this girl has got some kind of hold on you, and perhaps it can be fixed." Kisame looked nervously to his partner as he gave the suggestion. Itachi cocked his head to the side slightly as if debating whether to kill Kisame or thank him for such good advice. Without saying a word, Itachi rose and went out of the hideout.

Kisame took a deep breath, he wasn't use to Itachi being so unpredictable and it unnerved him and the other Akatsuki members. Itachi was by far the strongest and most deadly of the group and having a psychopathic murder who could wipe out everyone in the house who was having split personalities was not looking good on anyone's part.

* * *

"You have a mark upon you, one that cannot be so easily erased Uchiha." The old woman spoke in a deep harsh voice. She was blind, but it was her ability to see into things people normally can not was what made her so popular. She lived in a dark cave that smelled of old spices and fish. The woman herself dressed like a gypsy and was probably one in her younger years. She had neither a family nor even a past that anyone knew, but that made her all the more confidential.

"There is a girl correct?" The woman clasped Itachi's hand in her own, reading his aura.

"Correct." He answered coldly.

"She is a gift to you from the Gods." The old woman cackled.

"I don't want her." Itachi answered back, ripping his hand from her grasp.

"Oh but you must have her! Don't you see my son, she is a gift for your _soul_. You are being a chance to be forgiven. If you choose not to take this gift and cherish it, then you will be sent to an eternity of torture in a hell created just for you. If you accept her, take her as your own life, you will be granted access to the next world. These feeling you are having are the Gods way of pushing you in the right direction." She smiled knowingly and stood. "Think carefully on this boy, if you hurt her, you will be tortured beyond anything you can ever imagine, but if you care for her, you will be given redemption." She walked to the back of her cave and waved a goodbye to the stunned man sitting in her living space.

Itachi walked for hours, thinking on what the old woman said. Did he even want to be spared from the hell he knew he deserved? He thought of the cruel ways the Gods were pushing Sakura to him like bait. Didn't they know what he was capable of? Several times he nearly committed the crime he stopped the perverts in the woods from doing to her. The air around her was so pure, but at the same time so powerful. She was beautiful physically, no one could doubt that but it was her innocence and pure spirit that drew him to her.

It was as if she were a candle, and he the moth. The light and heat of her flame was alluring to the point of obsession, but if he got to close would he get burned? Did he even care about his heart, could he even care? So many thoughts were placed before him, one harder than the next, but the solutions were no where to be found.

He turned to the direction of the hideout, he would make his decision tonight, would he kill her and destroy his shattered soul, would he take her as his woman and deny her a life of her own, or would another possibility come up that he could not yet foresee? All he knew was that life had certainly become more interesting.

* * *

A/N: Please read and review! I am seriously amazed with all the wonderful reviews I have recieved! Thank you all so much, your encouragements make writing this alot easier. 


	4. Pedals and Thorns

Disclaimer: READ THE OTHER DISCLAIMERS

Chapter 4

Itachi stood over the sleeping girl, kunai at her throat. She didn't stir or move, like she knew to do so would result in her death even in her sleep.

_'Just do it, she is no use to you. The witch was lying, you cannot love anything but power.' _Itachi's eyes narrowed and he pressed the blade closer to her skin.

_'But if the witch was telling the truth, she may be the way to more power, the power that Naruto, and Kakashi use when fighting. Love could be a powerful weapon to use against the leader and finally be free of this ridiculous organization.'_ He moved the blade further from her neck.

_'This is weakness.'_ His darker half pressed.

_'This is an opportunity; at least explore it for a while before making a decision.'_ His lighter half reasoned.

Itachi threw the weapon to the ground and sat heavily on the chair next to Sakura's bed. He rubbed his face with his right hand, trying to calm the raging thoughts in his brain. He would give this a chance, this could be the very power he was looking for.

"Sakura." He said, pushing on her shoulder lightly. She stirred and opened her eyes sleepily. Startled that Itachi was sitting so close, she jumped and took a moment to gather her bearings.

"Whats going on?" she mumbled.

"You will stay with me and become my woman, I have just decided." Itachi said as if announcing she had just won the lottery.

Sakura blinked. "Huh?" she looked for any trace of joking in his eyes, but could find none.

"With you at my side, this love power you and your friends fight with will be mine and there will be no stopping me." Itachi explained.

"Wait, I don't think it works like that Itachi. You cant just say that I have to love you and we just skip merrily into the sunset!" She shouted angrily. Itachi narrowed his eyes, noticing the displeasure in her form.

"You are not pleased?" He asked dangerously.

"Why the hell would I be pleased that you decided to keep me captive and try to force me into becoming you 'woman'? I am thankful that you saved me in the woods, but I repaid you by fixing your eyes and now we are even."

"You will love me." He commanded.

"I wouldn't love you if you were the last man on earth! You are trying to kill my best friend, and you made my other friend into a revenge seeking monster! I don't know what the hell is going on with you but this has got to stop, you have done nothing to prove to me that you really want my love or that you could ever give me the love I deserve." Sakura was now standing with her hands on her hips.

Itachi stood angerly and grabbed her by the throat, slamming her against the wall.

"Do you dare to speak to me with such disrespect?" Itachi growled in her ear. She choked under his fingers.

"Kill me then, but you have proven to me that you are nothing but the monster I was told you were."

Itachi loosened his grip on her throat, letting her breathe but not letting go of her completely.

"I may be a monster, but you will never be free again." He growled and threw her on the bed. He took one last look at her before leaving the room, with the door slammed behind him.

* * *

Itachi wandered around the forest, taking his anger out on a few innocent trees. How dare she talk back to him, didn't she know who he was, and what he is capable of?

'You were very rude to her to begin with though.' His light half scolded.

'She deserves it, impudent wretch.' His darker half sneered.

'To make this work, you have to be nice to her, and respect her. She is a strong woman and she needs to be on a high pedestal. Go back to her and apologize.'

'Apologize? That is weakness.'

'It takes a strong man to admit when he was wrong. Only the weak would run and hide.'

Itachi narrowed his eyes, he was not weak and never would be called one, even by himself.

* * *

Sakura brushed her hair absently, trying to keep her mind off of this mornings extremely strange events. When the hell did Itachi decide he wanted a girlfriend? Of course by Itachi's meaning of 'woman' he could have very well meant wife.

Sakura paused in her brushing.

_'Sure I want to get married someday, but to a cold hearted killer who would never love me back? No way.' _

Sakura cleaned her clothes and went to make her bed when the door opened quickly. She jumped into her fighting stance, but upon realizing who it was, she relaxed and gave a sigh.

"What do you want?" Sakura ground out, pulling her sheets to their right place. Itachi walked over to her and grabbed her by the shoulder, roughly turning her around. She narrowed her eyes and glared at him for a moment before realizing what he had in his hand.

With a look of self horror on his face he thrust a bouquet of wildflowers into her hands. Speachless she studied the flowers to find that they had been hand picked and arranged. The thought of Itachi picking wildflowers popped into her head and she couldn't help suppress a small giggle.

"You picked me flowers?" she asked with a raised brow. He nodded curtly and looked over her head, avoiding her eyes.

"To say you're sorry for yelling at me, hurting me, and trying to force me into loving you?" Sakura was now having fun with the extremely uncomfortable Uchiha. He again nodded curtly.

"I will accept your apology only if you say you're sorry." Sakura said, hiding a smile in the flowers. Itachi sighed and looked into her eyes.

"I am sorry." He said tightly, as if saying those three words were physically painful to him. Sakura smiled and went to put the flowers in water.

"I have a mission, more reconnaissance then anything, I wish you to go with me." He said loudly, over the running water. Sakura leaned her head out of the bathroom and gave him a big smile.

"I would love to get out of this room and into fresh air!" She started thinking about ways to escape as soon as she hit the outside.

"Kisame will be going as well so if you are thinking about escape, it will prove very troublesome to yourself. If you try to escape or ruin the mission, I will have Kisasme drain you of all your chakra. Understand?"

Crestfallen, Sakura gave a "hai" before leaving the bathroom.

"Good, get your things ready, we leave in an hour." Itachi hurried out of the room to distance himself from the girl and those wretched flowers.

"Flowers, and an apology? There is something very strange going on with this guy." Sakura said to her new flowers.

* * *

"Kisame, we are taking the girl. She may be of use to us so be ready to leave in an hour." Itachi said to his partner before walking down the hall to the kitchen.

"Hai Itachi." Kisame was jumping at the chance to see what exactly is going on between his stoic partner and the lively pink haired ninja. He rushed into his own room to pack, when Itachi said be ready in an hour he meant it.

* * *

A/N: Sorry it's so short and it took a long time to update. I had an awards banquet on Friday and I had to work all day Saturday so this is just to keep all you awesome readers and reviewers occupied until I can get another chapter in, which will be soon! Thank you to all my reviewers, it really means a lot to hear your encouragements and suggestions. Please read and review! 


	5. Laughter

Disclaimer: READ THE OTHER DISCLAIMERS

Chapter 5

Sakura remained quiet the whole way to the mission starting point. Kisame was slightly worried, but Itachi was relieved. He didn't want to talk about the strange events that had been happening between them.

"We will set camp here. The party we are spying on are a few miles ahead, so don't do anything to stand out." Itachi said softly, setting his pack down. Kisame followed suit and went on a search for water.

"So, who are we spying on?" Sakura asked, breaking the thick silence that had fallen when Kisame left.

"Followers of Orochimaru. Apparently my idiot brother did not kill him as accurately as he thought." Itachi answered tensely.

"Ah." She sat down opposite to Itachi and started rummaging through her pack. When she found what she was looking for, she gave a smile to it and lifted it out of her pack. It was a small leather bound photo album of her friends and family back home.

"Why do you carry something so useless around?" Itachi raised a brow at her suddenly impatient posture.

"It's not useless. It helps me go on, thinking about my friends and all the good times we had. It is my inner power." She explained slowly, almost condescendingly.

Itachi's curiousity took the better of him and he moved across the clearing to sit next to his captive.

"May I?" he asked politely. Sakura was taken aback by his sudden interest in manners and nodded slightly. She opened to the first page where five year old Sakura and Ino sat smiling in a field of flowers.

"This is Ino, she was my best friend as a little girl, but we became rivals when we both started to like Sasuke. We spent so much time trying to out do each other; we missed out on a lot. Now we are back to being very good friends, although the competition between us has never died out." She said with a small laugh. She turned the page to Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto eating ice cream cones. Sakura laughed at the picture because she knew what happened after the shot was taken.

"See here? Naruto is about to take his ice cream and put it down Sasuke's shirt. He was so mad! But that was how they were, joking around all the time always trying to get stronger and faster than the other." She smiled sadly. "They were really the best of friends."

She flipped the page to a twenty year old Sakura sitting Kakashi's back, with his head in the dirt and his book in her hands. She laughed hard at this picture.

"Kakashi didn't take me seriously, so I took his prized possession; Icha Icha Paradise." The next page was one of her and Tsunade sticking their tongues out at each other. "This was when I proved her wrong for the first time, Shizune just had to take a picture of it."

By this time Kisame had returned with the water and Sakura was on the last page. This was a picture of Sakura, Ino, Hinata, and Temari in their bathing suits at the beach. It was supposed to be a mission to take down a prostituting ring, but they finished early and Tsunade allowed them to hit the beach.

"What a fun day that was." She remembered fondly. She closed the photo album and stuffed it into her bag when she realized the intense stare she was getting from Kisame.

"Who wants first watch?" Kisame said lightly, trying to break the tension.

"I will." Itachi said impassively and went back to his original seat. Sakura cleared her throat and stood to unroll her sleeping bag.

"Well then, wake me if you need me." She said with a small uneasy laugh and zipped herself into the bag like a cocoon, turning her back on the two men.

As soon as he was sure that Sakura was asleep, Kisame moved over to Itachi's side.

"You should be sleeping." Itachi stated quietly.

"What is going on Itachi? Did the old witch tell you anything?"

"That is none of your business." He muttered darkly, hoping to get his point across.

"It is my business if it is making my partner unstable." Kisame growled back.

Itachi glanced over at his partner and then nodded shortly.

"If I do tell you, and it gets out…" Itachi didn't have to finish the sentence, because Kisame gulped and nodded in understanding.

"She said that Sakura is my way into the next world. I am being a chance at forgiveness from the Gods, and by 'loving' her I may be granted access into the next life." Itachi spat out the word love like it was venom. Kisame sat quietly, trying to digest what Itachi was telling him.

"So you're telling me that the Gods are giving you a girlfriend?" Kisame asked uncertainly.

Itachi clenched his jaw and nodded. Kisame then broke out in a barely contained silent laughter. A vein protruded from Itachi's forehead before he smacked Kisame to the dirt.

Kisame sat up, with indignation written all over his face, before he broke out in another fit of laughter.

"I'm sorry, its just… You are the last person in the world that this could possibly happen to! You know the Gods may just be messing with your mental stability or something because you having a woman…" He couldn't finish because he was now crying with laughter.

"What the hell is going on?" Sakura sat up in her bedroll, looking at the shark man who was doubled over in laughter and the Uchiha sitting next to him who looked positively murderous.

"Oh ah… haha… Itachi just told a joke that's all!" Kisame said in-between his laughter. Sakura raised a brow and looked at Itachi.

"A joke?" she asked incredulously.

"Hai." He said, remaining stoic. Sakura looked at the laughing shark man and then back to Itachi.

"Tell me then." Sakura said with a smirk, crossing her arms across her chest. This only made Kisame laugh harder, and Itachi tighten his jaw.

"Why do people turn to the Gods for help?" Itachi asked tightly.

Sakura smiled, "Why?"

"Because asking Hell of assistance often yields negative results." Itachi finished, staring at the young girt intently. Sakura stared back; completely amazed that Itachi even KNEW a joke let alone allow himself to utter it. A small laugh bubbled up from her chest, and soon she was laughing as hard as Kisame.

"Oh Itachi, that was wonderful." She encouraged, still laughing slightly. "Thanks for that, now I think I am going back to sleep." She shook her head, laughed one more time and laid back down. Itachi looked at his now silent partner who was looking at him like they were sharing a privet joke.

"Not a word." Itachi growled and Kisame put his hands up in mock surrender.

Kisame went to the other side of the clearing and started to drift off to sleep. Itachi stared at Sakura's back, watching the steady rise and fall of her breathing. He had not told a joke in years, and to have someone laugh at it, genuinely laugh was almost uplifting. He had made her happy, if only for a few moments, and that made him feel as though he had accomplished something.

When they were looking through the photo album though, the sight of her in only a skimpy bathing suit had driven his primal instincts almost mad. He shook the thought out of his head and focused on the woods around him. In a few hours he would wake Kisame for his guard duty, and then a few hours after that the mission would begin.

A stray thought ran across his brain, just as he was about to wake Kisame. He wanted to learn more jokes. He liked the feeling of being the one to make Sakura laugh. The sweet sound had stirred something in his lighter half that he could not describe.

"This is madness." He scolded himself and pushed it out of his brain.

* * *

A/N: This is by far the hardest story I have ever written, so it will probably take a lot longer to finish then the others. Thank you to my reviewers! You are all super fantastic!!!! Please read and review! 


	6. Escapes

Disclaimer: READ THE OTHER DISCLAIMERS

Chapter 6

"I think we are being trailed." A shinobi whispered to another. The other looked around suspiciously but did not agree nor disagree with him.

"Come on men, lets get going. Orochimaru will not be pleased if we are late with the package." The leader of the men said with authority. It ended the discussion of being followed much to the relief of the people who were following them.

"What do you think they have?" Sakura whispered softly.

"Herbs, medicinal mostly." Kisame answered, watching the group file out.

"Why would Orochimaru need herbs?" Sakura asked puzzled.

"He is ill." Itachi answered softly. Sakura nodded and returned her gaze to the slowly disappearing group.

"We must inform leader that he is indeed alive, and is probably only _just_ alive." Itachi moved from his perch in the tree they were standing in and landed silently on the ground.

"Hai." Kisame agreed, landing equally as silent behind his partner. Sakura, on the other hand, landed like an elephant.

"You are a shinobi?" Itachi asked sarcastically. Sakura narrowed her eyes in agitation.

"Well we can't all be graceful ballerinas like you two." She quipped and walked away with a small smirk.

"Ballerinas?" Kisame asked with humor in his voice. He could honestly say that this woman had guts. Not only was she not trembling with fear at the thought of being held captive by two very dangerous S-Class criminals, but she was calling them ballerinas. He shook his head and started walking behind her.

"We will arrive at base in a few hours, try to keep your lack of grace in check." Itachi said in is usual stoic voice, but it was underlined with sarcasm. Sakura stopped to look at him.

"More jokes? Itachi if you don't watch yourself you may turn into a human." Sakura said with no malice. He gave her a rare smirk and they sped off towards the base.

* * *

_'This could be the only chance I get to escape. Perhaps if I distract them with my genjutsu… no, that won't work with Itachi. Maybe if I hit the ground hard enough it will cause a moment's distraction. All I need is a moment.'_ Sakura looked around her, looking for an opening in the forest to disappear to. Finding a small clearing a few hundred feet ahead, she readied herself. She pushed a massive amount of chakra into her hand and went to slam it into the ground.

Just as her hand was about to hit the ground, she felt resistance. Itachi had his hand around her wrist, and he did not look happy. Sakura looked at him with wide eyes and a dropped jaw.

"Going somewhere?" Itachi said angrily. Sakura gasped as the feeling of chakra being drained from her body hit her full force. She looked back to see an angry Kisame holding his sword at her back.

"Damn." She whispered before she hit the ground.

* * *

Sakura opened her eyes groggily. She felt her arms above her and realized she was chained to the ceiling. She sighed deeply and looked around.

She was in a prison cell of some sort, her arms chained to the ceiling and her legs chained to the ground. She had no chakra and she was over all in a deep mess.

"You are awake." A deep voice in the corner startled her out of her thoughts. Itachi came out of the shadows and looked darkly at Sakura. "Why did you try to escape?"

"Because I want to go home." Sakura said defeated.

"Now you can't." Itachi said loudly. Sakura looked up into his crimson eyes. "The Leader found out about you. You must either be held captive until you are prepared to be bait for your friend Naruto, or you must be killed." Itachi grabbed her by the chin. "Do you understand what you have done? You fell onto the Leader's radar and now there is no escape." He pushed her chin roughly from his grasp. "I was going to let you go, you know." Itachi walked to the door, ignoring the barely contained sobs coming from the young girl.

"Please, Itachi." She whispered. He turned to face her.

"You have abused my trust, and now I cannot help you." He opened the large metal door and slammed it closed behind him.

"What have I done?" Sakura whispered to herself.

* * *

"How is she?" Kisame asked as Itachi left the dungeon.

"Alive for now." Itachi said harshly and walked past his partner. Kisame hung his head slightly, it was because of him she was locked up. Leader had questioned him about Itachi's recent strange behavior, and no one could ever lie to the Leader. He had a strange power that made it impossible for anyone to hide anything from him.

Kisame had told Leader everything about Itachi and Sakura. Leader had then called for Itachi to explain his side of things. Leader had found the girl to be a threat to his master plan and had ordered her to be killed or used for bait and then killed.

Itachi slammed his fist into the wall in his room. He hated to be under someone's thumb, and being in this organization was killing him. He left Konoha because he hated to be under the control of people who were weak, and now he was in an organization he didn't care about, being oppressed worse that when he was at home. He didn't agree with most of the things the Leader said or wanted. His grand plan was a farce that would never work without people like Itachi and Kisame and Deidara. The Leader himself was weak, his minions were his real and only power and he was getting tired of a pretender.

* * *

Sakura's arms were killing her, her legs were killing her, and she was starving. She thought back to her home and her friends. Did they miss her? Were they looking for her? Would she ever see them again? Sakura started to cry again. All the things she missed out on in life, chasing a dream that could never be. She hoped for so long that Sasuke would come back, and they would be happy. He would be her first, and they would get married and have children. Naruto and Hinata would come over every day and they would laugh and tell stories of their childhood. Naruto would become Hokage and Sasuke would be his second in command. Everything would be in their right place, and everyone would be happy.

But nothing could ever be the same now. She would be dead, Naruto would not know what happened to her, and Sasuke would be killed by his own lust for revenge. Everything was so messed up and she couldn't help but wonder if she was at least partially to blame. If she wasn't as selfish as a child, then maybe she could have been more supportive for Sasuke when he needed it the most. If she had screamed and alerted guards, Sasuke wouldn't have been able to leave.

So many 'ifs' but not enough solidity behind them. She had not proof that things would have turned out better if she had done things differently, but the 'what ifs' always came up in the most inopportune moments. Here she was hanging from the ceiling, about to be murdered by a band of S-class criminals who captured her when her former best friend tried to have his friends defile her in the middle of the woods and here she was thinking about how selfish she was as a twelve year old. She sighed.

"This sucks." She said to herself.

* * *

Itachi crept down the stairs to the dungeon silently. He was very good at stealth, unlike most of his compatriots. Kisame was good at being blunt, Deidara was good at blowing stuff up, but Itachi was good at being unnoticed until it was too late. He opened the cell door slowly and moved into the room swiftly.

He saw Sakura hanging by the chains, her eyes closed and her breathing was slightly labored. He could tell she was in pain, and felt something tighen in his chest.

Silently he grabbed her around the waist and clamped his free hand on her mouth. Her eyes widened in alarm before she realized who it was. He released her mouth and put hand to his own mouth to signal her to be silent. She nodded and watched him undo her chains. She fell from fatigue from being restrained for so long. Her arms and legs were useless and so Itachi grabbed the rope from his pocket and proceeded to tie her onto his back. When she was secure he moved back up the stairs and out of the house.

He ran for hours, wanting to put as much space between him and the other Akatsuki as he could. Sakura fell asleep from exhaustion early in their escape, so Itachi was left alone to figure out a route.

Satisfied he was far enough away, he untied her and set her down on the ground gently. He then undid his cloak and placed it over her to keep her warm. There would be no sleep for him tonight, but he felt good. For the first time in a long time he felt a sense of freedom. Soon he would be strong enough to take down the Akatsuki and finally be free from all the restraints that had him bound for so long.

He glanced over to the sleeping girl and thought, _'she had better be all that the witch said she was.' _

* * *

A/N: Escape to paradise? Maybe but probably not… hehe please read and review! 


	7. Rabbits

Disclaimer: READ THE OTHER DISCLAIMERS

Chapter 7

Sakura woke to the sounds of birds chirping and sunlight in her eyes. She carefully sat up and took a glance around her. By the look of her surroundings they were somewhere deep in water country. She turned her head to see Itachi looking at her intensely.

"Morning." She said quietly and stood up, taking the cloak with her. She shook it out and folded it neatly. "Where are we going?"

"I am not yet sure. I figure we have about another day or so before the Leader sends out people to capture us, so I figure we should go to a village and lay low." Itachi stood as well and went over to her.

"Which village?" she asked quietly, shuffling the cloak in her arms.

"The one where we would be least expected to go. Sound." Itachi took the cloak from her arms and smirked at her horrified face.

"But… we can't go there!" Sakura sputtered.

"Why can't we?" Itachi asked walking away from her and back to where he was sitting before.

"Because both of us are enemies of Sound." She said slowly, as if talking to a mentally unstable person. Right now, Sakura believed Itachi to be just that.

"No, Itachi of the Akatsuki and Sakura of Konoha are enemies of Sound. Itachi and Sakura, two civilians passing through are not." He smirked at her befuddled expression.

"Okay, say we do pass as civilians, which we probably wont, and we stay in Sound without any trouble, which there will be, how do you know that the Akatsuki wont be expecting us to go there?" Sakura sat on the ground at her last question.

"Because one Akatsuki can get through easily enough, especially one who has the ability to twist minds. If more than one starts filling though town, people will notice and they will fight. That is why we haven't been able to get Orochimaru yet, his guard is tough and they are always on the defensive. As long as we don't make any trouble, we will go by unnoticed." Itachi explained.

"But what about me? How many pink haired girls do you know, because Orochimaru knows precisely one pink haired medic who could heal him quickly." Sakura argued.

"You can use genjutsu can you not? Create a false image of yourself." He reasoned.

"But… well… ugh, as long as you think we can do it, I guess its worth a shot." Sakura said defeated. "But there is one thing that I still don't understand." She looked down to the ground. "Why did you save me a second time?"

"Don't think that is was only for you girl, if it had not benefited me as well you would not be here." He returned to his stoic demeanor.

"Oh, well okay." Sakura said with a blush.

"Stay here, I am going to get something to eat for us. I will know if you try to run, plus you are far behind enemy lines with S-class criminals on your tail so I would advise you not to think about it." He left without hearing anything else she had to say.

She sighed and sat down heavily. She didn't know what was going on with him now. Just when she thought she had him sort of figured out, he did something insanely strange and unlike him and screwed up everything she had figured in the first place. He was hot one moment, wanting to please here and be her night in shining armor and cold the next, either trying to kill her or hurt her emotionally. She was at a loss as to what to think about him now. He had saved her life twice now, and had risked his life to get her out. Sure maybe he did it for his own good, to get away from oppressors, but there was something behind it.

She sat in the same place, thinking about what the hell to think until he retuned with a rabbit for lunch. She gagged at the sight of it, but then realized that it was better than nothing.

"We will leave at nightfall, coming into Sound is easier under the cover of dark. Cook this." He handed her the dead animal.

"Why do you think I can cook? Just because I am a woman…"

"Just shut up and cook it." He said with a smirk and went to sit by a tree. She turned red with anger and thought of a few choice words to call him but then gave up and started working on dinner.

"Don't get used to this." She growled.

* * *

A/N: sorry its soo short, I need to get to sleep and wanted to write something before I did. Next chapter will be twice as long I promise! 


	8. Dark rooms

Disclaimer: READ THE OTHER DISCLAIMERS

Chapter 8

"Just keep close, and keep quiet." Itachi warned the now disguised Sakura as they walked into the hidden village of Sound. Itachi had his eyes turned their charcoal color, and his long black hair down. He was wearing civilian clothing and made sure his cloak was packed deep within his backpack. Sakura gave the illusion that she had dark brown hair and honey brown eyes, and was wearing a knee length sun dress. It was a beautiful warm spring day and there was not a cloud in the sky. People were in a good mood, and were least likely to start trouble with strange outsiders.

"Hey you!" A shinobi guard called. They stopped and turned to face the guardsman. "You got papers?" He rasped. Aparently this guard did not get the memo on the nice day rules of not engaging in bothering the outsiders.

"Of course." Itachi said smoothly and reached into his pocket and pulled out a blank piece of paper. The guard looked at the strange man interestingly but was met with a pair of red sharingan eyes. The man fell into a trance and Itachi's eyes returned to normal. Shaking his head, the man handed the papers back to Itachi.

"Well everything seems to be in order, have a nice day." The guard said with a confused smile. Itachi nodded and gently took Sakura by the arm, leading her away from the guard.

"Now what?" Sakura asked softly when they entered the market place of the town.

"We buy something to eat, and then rent a hotel room like any traveling married people do when they are on their way to visit a sick uncle." Itachi said cautiously, eyeing two guards by a food stand in front of them. Sakura got the hint and smiled warmly at Itachi.

"Of course, _dear_." She said with a sweet voice.

* * *

After getting lunch, they proceeded to the nearest hotel, which was, in Sakura's opinion, much too ritzy for them to be able to afford. She gave him a worried glance, but he merely smiled and opened the wooden door for her. They walked purposefully to the front desk where an elderly man was standing, writing something in a ledger.

"Can I help you?" the old man asked with a warm smile.

"Yes, we would like a room." Itachi said politely.

"Alright, for how long will you be staying?" The old man started flipping through the pages of the ledger.

"About a week." Itachi slung his arm casually over Sakura's shoulder. Sakura tensed, but then forced herself to relax into his half embrace.

"Newlyweds huh? Well I got only one room open, you're lucky." The old man took a key from a hook behind him and placed it on the table. "Your name sir?"

"Misaki. Jin and Yoko Misaki." Itachi said casually, leaning over to see what the man was writing in the ledger, as if to correct any spelling. The old man smiled and handed "Mr. Misaki" the key.

"Room 413, second floor last room on the right." The old man pointed to the stairs at the far end of the room. "Breakfast buffet is at seven, lunch is from noon to three and dinner starts at five in the main dining hall restaurant. Turn down service is included with the room fee, and there is a 'do not disturb' sign you can hang on the door if you want to sleep in." the man winked. "How are you paying today sir?"

"Cash." Itachi said with a smile, and turned on his sharingan.

* * *

"A real bed!" Sakura squealed and jumped into the spacious king sized bed. She giggled and rushed to the bathroom. "Oh Itachi, there is a Jacuzzi in here!" she said with delight. Itachi rolled his eyes and pulled his long hair back in its usual low pony tail.

"What are we going to do now?" Sakura asked with more sobriety as she walked out of the bathroom.

"We wait a week. Right now the Akatsuki will be after you because of information you might know, so they will seal off any entranced to Konoha we may use. By Sunday, I can figure out which is the path of least resistance and get you back to your village. Me on the other hand, I will have to go somewhere the Akatsuki wont follow to become strong enough to dispel the entire organization." Itachi sat in a chair across from the bed where Sakura had taken a seat.

"Why don't you come to Konoha with me? If you help destroy Akatsuki, you may be granted with a temporary alliance." Sakura said hopefully. She paused her thoughts for a moment. Did she want Itachi to come back home with her?

"Konoha will think it was a trap to get closer to Naruto. Plus, I am a missing nin from Konoha, they will kill me first and ask questions later." Itachi said with a small smirk at her innocent question.

"Yeah, you're probably right. But there has to be something I can do to help, I mean you saved me and you're trying to get me back home." Sakura sat up straighter.

"You can teach me about this 'love' weapon you and your friends use. I wish to know how it works." Itachi leaned forward, as if to receive proper instruction. Sakura blushed and looked away.

"I don't think it works like that Itachi. I mean I can tell you about why I would die for my friends, but I don't know how to teach you the 'technique.'"

Itachi looked at her intensely. "We shall see what you can teach, and in return, what I may teach to you."

* * *

They left the room cautiously, keeping in mind that they were on enemy territory being hunted by a group of very powerful s-class criminals. They started down the stairs towards the dining hall when they noticed a group of shinobi coming closer. They both stopped simultaneously. Sakura narrowed her eyes as she recongnized a chakra pattern.

"Kabuto!" she whispered nervously to Itachi. If he got one look at either of them, they were caught.

"What is he doing here?" Itachi asked softly. As the group neared, they desended the stairs quickly, but remained casual. They rounded the corner and stepped into a darkened room, obviously not being used by the guests. Itachi kept the door open, and dragged Sakura to the back of the room.

"Did you see that?" One of the shinobi's voices carried into the room. The foot steps grew louder and Itachi did the only thing he could think of.

"Relax, and follow my lead." He whispered and pressed himself against Sakura, pinning her against the wall. She tried to protest but was cut off by Itachi's lips on her own. She gasped in shock, and Itachi used that moment of unbalance to deepen the kiss. The door opened and the group of shinobi saw two lovers sharing a deep kiss in a darkened room.

"Hey! Get to your own room if you want to do that!" One shinobi laughed hardily. Itachi and Sakura jumped apart, as if they were startled at being caught.

"Hai, excuse us." Sakura said in a high pitched, embarrassed tone. The shinobi closed the door and walked away, talking about hormone driven youngsters.

Sakura's breath was ragged, but not as much as Itachi's. That kiss was meant to have been a diversion, but now the both of them felt something strange.

"Well, I think we should get back to the room, maybe order room service, or something because we don't want to get caught by Kabuto and his men and we really have to find out why they are here, so…" Sakura rambled on nervously.

"Hn." Itachi said cutting her off and moved toward the door.

'_Oh my goodness, we just kissed! I was literally making out with a sworn enemy of my village. Oh but damn was he a good kisser, NO wait! I cant think that, is that treason to kiss the enemy? Or to want to kiss the enemy again, SAKURA get a hold of yourself you are a grown woman, you can handle this, just don't kiss him again and maybe we will both forget it ever happened. Yeah that's it!'_ Sakura's brain was going into overtime as they ascended the stairs quickly towards their room.

_'The Gods are cruel, very very cruel.'_ Was the only thing going through Itachi's mind. The kiss had unnerved him, made him feel things he really didn't want to feel. Her lips tasted like cherries, and the smell of her… there would be no stopping himself if it were to happen again.

They entered the room without a word. Sakura went to the bathroom to wash her face, and Itachi sat on the bed.

_'I need to keep away from him, I can afford to develop feelings for someone I can never be with.'_

_'I need to stay away from her, she may be harmed if I loose control.'_

_'Even though he is insainly handsome and is on hell of a good kisser…'_

_'Baring the fact she is beautiful and drives me mad with desire…'_

_'I can't kiss him again.'_

_'I cannot kiss her again.'_

Sakura stepped out of the bathroom and locked eyes with Itachi. He stood up and walked over towards her.

"I…" She began.

"That…" he stopped. Time seemed to stand still as they looked at each other with an intensity that would frighten any onlooker.

They finally threw away any chance at rational speech and flew into eachother's embrace. The kissed passionately and fell onto the bed.

"If we do not part now, I will not be able to control myself." Itachi said, trying to break between the kissing.

"The hell with control, if you don't keep kissing me I will die." She mumbled and they were thrown into a whirlwind of passion.

* * *

Up on high in the kingdom of the Gods, two Gods shared a laugh.

"That was almost too easy." The one said.

"Yeah, but it sure did take long enough to get to this point." The other laughed.

"Everything is falling into place." The first said strongly.

"Soon they will all be right where we want them." The second said, closing his fist over the image of the two young lovers finding their inner desires down on Earth.

"Very soon."

A/N: A longer chapter! Yay. So they gave in to their desires. For those who think Itachi is OOC, just remember when the Gods mess with you, everything gets turned about. So Itachi is OOC but it is not his fault!

Please read and review!!


	9. Running Away

Disclaimer: READ THE OTHER DISCLAIMERS

Chapter 9

Itachi woke with a start, and looked around the room in a panic. He could not remember anything that happened the night before. He looked to his right a saw a person laying next to him, bundled in the blankets.

_'I am naked, and there is someone next to me. Where is Sakura?'_ He thought, but then a horrified look crossed his face, and he gently lifted up the blankets to reveal a sleeping, naked Sakura.

He carefully untangled himself from the blankets and went it to the bathroom to collect his jumbled thoughts.

_'What the hell happened to me? It must have been her fault, maybe a drug or something.'_ His eyes narrowed at the thought.

Suddenly a muffled scream came from the bedroom, Itachi rushed out, with only a towel around his waste to find Sakura sitting up in bed with the covers wrapped firmly around her body. She was looking around the room like she was lost and then looked at Itachi with wide eyes.

"What the hell… Why am I… Itachi WHAT HAPPENED?!" She exploded. "Did you drug me or something? Did we… oh Kami." She hit her hand to her forehead and started mumbling incoherent words.

"I was going to ask you if you had drugged me, girl. What can you remember?" Itachi started going back to his stoic, cold hearted, way of being the moment he woke up. There was something very not right with the way he had been acting lately.

"ME?! You…you… took advantage of me or something. All I remember is checking in here, and then I remember seeing Kabuto so we had to hide. We went into that dark room, and that is where my memory stops." Sakura was near hysterics and tears were welling up in her eyes from the stress of blacking out and waking up naked with the enemy.

"That is all I remember as well. Perhaps it is best we do not remember what had happened after all." Itachi said coldly and walked back toward the bathroom.

"What is that supposed to mean? You would rather have amnesia than remember a night with me?" she snapped. She always tended to get angry when really stressed.

Itachi stopped and gave a cold glare to the hot headed girl. "Watch your tone girl, or I will leave you here." He said and slammed the bathroom door closed.

Sakura started to really panic now. Itachi was being like the cold bastard she remembered and when he said that he would leave her here, he probably meant it.

"Great, first I get captured by my old best friend, then saved by my worst nightmare and made into a hostage for what I 'might know' and now I am on the run from a terrorist organization, sleeping WITH one of the terrorists behind enemy lines. Could my live possibly get more complicated?" she mumbled angrily as she put some clothes away, ignoring the pain she was feeling from last night's 'activities.' After she was dressed and had vented out most of her anger, she healed her pains and sat on a chair across from the bed to wait for Itachi.

Itachi stepped out of the bathroom a few moments after she had sat down and went to where his clothes were. He was wearing a towel slung low around his waist, and had his long wet hair down and cascading around his shoulders and face as he bend to retrieve his scattered clothes. Sakura watched him carefully, noticing the way the muscles in his back rippled as he lifted his clothes off the floor. Without realizing it, her mouth had started to water, and she was watching him with an almost hungry look on her face. Itachi felt the intence stare and looked up, his Sharingan eyes blazing in the dimly lit room. He was looking at her with the same predatory look and moving towards her. They were about a foot apart now, and neither had spoken a word. Itachi raised his hand and ran it softly through her hair. Sakura stepped closer to him, relishing in the smell of his clean skin. His lips started their decent.

"HOUSE CLEANING!" a maid called from outside, making both of them jump apart about three feet. They took a moment to shake themselves out of the trance before telling the maid to come back later.

"What the hell was that?" Sakura asked breathlessly. She was blushing furiously now and retreated back to the chair she was sitting in before.

"We need to reach Konoha soon. I suspect it will only get worse." Itachi said, turning away from her and into the bathroom to change.

"Itachi, what is this?" Sakura asked finally, reaching a new level of hopelessness.

"The Gods." Itachi said simply. Sakura rolled her eyes, thinking that he was being sarcastic.

"I am serious." He said, stepping out of the bathroom, now fully dressed. He sat on the edge of the bed and told her of all the strange feelings he was not accustomed to having and his visit to the old gypsy seer. By the end of his story, she looked horrified.

"All this time, the _Gods_ were behind all the insanity going on between us? But what happens when I get to Konoha and you still haven't learned how to defeat the Akatsuki and made me all 'happy' and save your soul?"

"I do not care about my soul, Sakura. It is too late for that. From spending time with you, I can get the general idea about how your 'love power' works but now I realize that I would probably never have the emotion to properly use it. As for defeating Akatsuki, it is only the leader Pein who is the one I must worry about." Itachi stood and finished packing his things.

"We are leaving early, I cannot risk bedding you again." He said coldly.

"Where are we going?" She asked with a blush at the word 'bedding.'

"Through the North Pass. It will probably be the path of lease resistance and most likely guarded by someone who could tolerate the cold, or would be forced to. Tobi most likely." Itachi said with a smirk.

Sakura nodded and gathered her things as well.

They left the hotel at around ten in the morning. They passed venders who were just setting up their tents and displaying their merchandise. Sakura smiled politely at the elderly people she passed, and made sure not to trip over the children running all around, sometimes right in front of her. She kept the genjutsu appearance up until they got to the main gate of the village.

"Wait!" a guard rushed out and looked at the pair strangely, not making direct eye contact. He then smirked and did a hand signal.

"Kai!" he said and the genjutsu around Sakura fell. The guard called the alarm and Itachi grabbed Sakura's arm and fled. They ran fast and hard with the Sound nin close on their trail.

"I will lead them away. Mask your chakra and meet me at the North Pass." Itachi spoke quietly but left no room for argument. She knew that she could never fight ALL the Sound nin chasing her and had high doubts about taking on an Akatsuki by her self at the North Pass. She nodded and completely masked her chakra, turning a sharp right as Itachi took a sharp left. She gracefully landed on the ground and started running at civilian speed through the trees. The bait worked and soon the Sound nin were far from her. She stopped after an hour of hard, _slow_, running and tried to catch her breath.

"Well, this is a surprise." A deep voice made her jump into fighting stance.

"Kabuto." She growled. He was alone, but he probably thought that he could take out a little girl by himself. Little did he know that she wasn't that little girl anymore.

"Leaving so soon?" He teased dangerously. She stood her ground and started to gather chakra into her fist.

"No, but you are." She smirked and slammed her fist into the ground. The earth broke like an earthquake, and several trees went crashing to the ground. Kabuto managed to move just as the shock was about to hit him.

"I am impressed. Learn that from Tsunade huh?" He smiled darkly.

"That's not all I learned." She said smoothly, and jumped into action. Hit after hit he blocked, breaking several bones in the process. But he was a medi-nin like her so breaking stuff that he could easily heal was getting on Sakura's nerves.

_'Only one hit to the face or chest and I can kill him.' _She thought.

Kabuto seemed to know exactly what she was aiming for and faked left as her punch was coming in. The moment she missed, she knew that she left her side open and he took advantage of that. With a chakra scalpel, he cut into a chakra channel. She fell to the ground and rolled away quickly, grasping her side. Feeling started to leave the right side of her body.

'_Damn.'_ She thought bitterly as she assessed the damage.

"Don't even try it little girl." He flew at her as she tried to heal herself and hit a pressure point in her neck. She fell the ground gasping. The nerve he had hit had temporarily made her paralyzed from the neck down.

"I never thought a team mate of Sasuke would end up with Itachi. That makes you a bit of a whore doesn't it." He whispered menacingly into her ear. Her eyes grew hard and she continued to work on releasing her body.

"Don't worry little girl, I wont kill you yet. You still have uses you know." Kabuto smiled evilly at her and then hit her in the back of the head, effectively knocking her out.

Itachi managed to kill off about ten Sound nin before making his getaway towards the North Pass. He picked up Sakura's faint chakra trail and followed it to a clearing. The trees had all been knocked down and there was a huge crater in the middle of it. Itachi's eyes narrowed as he pieced together what had happened.

It was obvious that Sakura had caused this much damage, but against who? He used his sharingan to find a small trace of another charka. This one more concealed and harder to locate.

"Kabuto." He growled at the realization of who's chakra it was. Suddenly there was a burden on his head he never thought he would have. Should he rescue Sakura, or continue on without her.

_'She is weak, just leave her.'_

_'You made a promise to get her back home. You never go back on your word.'_

Two voices battled for dominance in Itachi's decision. He closed his eyes and willed his thoughts to be silent. He never went back on his word.

Itachi traveled hard back towards Sound, completely masking his chakra.

* * *

A/N: Sorry it took so long to update… Finals:-(

Well anywho, please read and review.


	10. Prisioners In the Dark

Disclaimer: READ THE OTHER DISCLAIMERS

Chapter 10

Sakura woke in a dark room alone, and bound. She still couldn't feel much from the neck down and started trying to heal what Kabuto had done to her.

"Just great. Is being captured all I am good at? I am so pathetic." She mumbled to herself in self loathing. She knew Itachi wouldn't come for her again, he would realize how weak she truly was and not even waste his time. She was on her own this time and she would have to defeat her enemies by herself.

* * *

"So Tsunade's apprentence is here? Perhaps it would be benificial to take the body of such a powerful little medic this time." Orochimaru chuckled darkly. Kabuto narrowed his eyes.

"Oh don't look so offended Kabuto, you know she had more power than you, she is just lacking the expierence and training to use it. Bring her to me now, and don't let your guard down around her. If she is a student of Tsunade than she will be cunning." Kabuto bowed and left quickly to comply with his master's wishes.

"That little brat is no where near as strong as me, she proved that in our battle. She is just a weak little girl who will always loose." He muttered as he walked down the hallway. He opened the door to the room where the prisioner was being held and gasped when he saw that she was no longer laying where he had put her.

Sakura used the little chakra she had left to cling to the celling as Kabuto opened the door. She used the moment of his distraction against him and swung down quickly to kick him in the face, sending him crashing into the wall opposite to the room. Sakura ran as fast as she could for an open window at the end of the hall, only to be grabbed by the shoulder roughly and slammed into the wall.

"You are out of chakra little girl, nice try but you know to use any more in fighting will kill you." Kabuto growled to the girl against the wall. Sakura nodded stiffly, she knew that she had lost the opportunity to escape, but such an opportunity might arise again if she remained calm and let her chakra replenish itself. Kabuto knew he had, for the moment, subdued her.

"So little flower, did you know that your village has sent out many teams to find you? Popular little one arent you?" Orochimaru said with a smirk.

"Of course." Sakura replied with even more arrogence than him.

"You know your village will never find you, and you know that Itachi Uchiha wont come for you, so for the time being you are at my mercy." Orochimaru grinnned evily as a thought popped into his head. "I wonder what your village would think about your behavior with the imfamous clan killer? Do you think they would understand, or would they put you on trial for treason? Do you have anything to go back to Sakura?"

Sakura knew exactly what he was doing and she wasn't going to fall for it. She smiled her sweetest fake smile and bowed.

"I don't think that my honor or loyalty is any of your concern Orochimaru, so I would appreciate it if you kept your greasy noes out of my buissness."

Orochimaru's smirk fell and he nodded to Kabuto who smacked her in the face, hard.

"You will learn your place soon enough. For now place her with the other prisioner, I'm sure they will have a lot in common." He grinned and dismissed his servent and his prisioner.

* * *

"Hey!" Sakura yelled as Kabuto threw her harshly into a dark room. She hit the ground with a thud and heard the door slam. "What a jerk." She mumbled.

"Sakura?" a voice from the corner of the room called quietly. Sakura turned slowly, she knew that voice, she trusted that voice.

"Sa..Sasuke?" she whispered. Disbelief shown in her bright green eyes.

Sasuke sat in the corner of the room, his eyes were clouded with pain. He had many knife wounds to his body but the real pain came deep within. He was filled with a deep pain he could not be released from.

Sakura rushed over to his side and started healing his wounds. He looked up into her eyes, finding none of the things he thought he would find. He did not find hate or betrayal, nor did he find hurt or anger. The only emotions in Sakura's eyes were concern and love.

"Don't waste your strength Sakura, I'm not worth it." Sasuke muttered, trying to pull away from her iron like grip.

"Shut up Sasuke." Was her reply.

"Why are you doing this, after what I did to you?" Sasuke asked bitterly.

"Because you are my team mate, my friend. Even though you forgot what that means, I havent." She said with a hitch. Tears welled in her eyes but she angerly brushed them away and continued with her work.

"Sakura…" he whispered, but could not finish what he was thinking.

They sat in silence for a long while, neither really knowing what to say to the other. Finally Sakura got sick of the silence.

"How did you get caught?" She asked curiously.

"Curse mark." He said quietly. Sakura nodded. "You?"

Sakura didn't know how to answer that. Should she tell him the truth?

"Kabuto caught me as I was trying to get back to the village." She said vaguely. Sasuke noticed that she was leaving out information, but decided not to press it.

"Sakura… I didn't forget." He whispered. She looked up startled, not knowing what he was talking about.

"I didn't forget what being a friend means, I just… got lost somewhere and couldn't get out. After my brother saved you from me, I realized that I had been chasing my goal the wrong way. Instead of asking for the help I needed from the ones I trusted, I betrayed them and eventually became what I truly despised. It's pretty bad when my worst enemy has to save my best friend from being my victim." A tear ran down Sasuke's cheek. "I need you Sakura, I need both you and Naruto, I realize that now."

Sakura was stunned to say the least. After all these years, Sasuke had finally seen the metophoric light. She laughed suddenly and threw herself into Sasuke's arms.

"You jerk! I missed you, you know." She cried with happy tears. "Lets find a way out of here, yeah?" Sakura asked with a smile.

* * *

Itachi neared the end of Kabuto's trail. It looked like a cave but Itachi knew better. After carefully cloaking his chakra, he proceeded forward with caution and stealth. If Sakura was here, she would probably be kept pretty far underground. He used his Akatsuki training to sence where people where. Orochimaru he recognized almost instantly because of his slimy aura. Kabuto was on the floor above him with ten other ninja. He closed his eyes and focused harder until he found two chakra traces he knew intimately. One was Sakura, she was low on chakra but other wise unharmed, and the other was his idiot brother. Itachi could tell that they were two floors below Orochimaru and between him and Sakura there was about sixty ninja in the way. He growled in annoyance, this was going to take longer than he wanted.

He would have to be silent and precise, he couldn't afford for Orochimaru to notice him until he had taken out at least half of the other ninja. One by one Itachi took the ninja down with a kunai, and his own silent stealth.

_'I'm coming Sakura.'_ He thought with a strange emotion he had never felt before.

* * *

"Itachi…" Sakura whispered. She was shaking now, she knew with ever fiber of her being that he was there. She could feel him, his aura was dark yet had something strange mingled into it.

"What?" Sasuke asked.

"I…I feel him. I didn't think he would come for me." She whispered with confusion in her voice.

"Feel him? What do you mean?" Sasuke asked with narrowed eyes. "Is there something going on between you and my brother?"

"No! I mean… well you know how he is, there could never be anything between us Sasuke, remember he isn't exactly the loving type of person you know." Sakura rambled.

"Did you sleep with him?" Sasuke asked angerly.

"What?! I… that's… that is none of your buisness." She stuttered. "Look, Itachi is here to get me out, we need to help out if we have any chance of getting out of here alive. We will talk about this later Sasuke." She said with a tense voice.

Yes we will." Sasuke said with finality.

* * *

A/N: Sorry about the really long time without an update, I don't have an excuse to give you, I was just a bum. Please read and review and I promise I will update again very very soon. 


	11. Moments in Thought

Disclaimer: READ THE OTHER DISCLAIMERS

Chapter 11

"Intrud…!" The guard was cut off before he finished his sentence, but a kunai to the neck. Itachi came upon a locked door with a chakra barrier surrounding it.

"Sakura… stand back." Itachi said quietly. He closed his eyes and focused the chakra into his right hand, just like he had seen Sakura do in the past. With one hit, the door and chakra bind was destroyed and through the dust, he saw his Sakura.

"Itachi, I didn't think…" Sakura started, but was cut off by Itachi.

"We must move quickly." He said coming into the room. "Can you move?" He asked with a slightly darker undertone to his brother. Sasuke nodded and used the wall to help himself up.

"Lets go then." Itachi in the lead with Sakura and Sasuke following closely behind, they made their way through the maze Orochimaru called home. The Genjutsu Itachi kept around them was strong enough to slip past the unsuspecting genin ninja and to sneak up for an attack on the older wiser chunin and jounin ninja.

"Well I must say, I am impressed. I didn't think you would come for her, I guess that was a mistake on my part." The slimy voice of Orochimaru said with humor. The group turned around to face the Sound leader. "Sasuke, you too have disappointed me."

Sasuke dropped to the ground in pain, the curse mark blazing on his shoulder.

"Stop it!" Sakura screamed and rushed to Sasuke's side.

"How touching, the little pink haired girl loves both of the Uchiha boys, well little girl, lets see how you like this." Orochimaru smirked. Seven guards attacked from behind, Itachi deflected all of the kunai but he realized too late what was going on. Orochimaru's neck shot away from his body at a lightning fast speed towards Itachi. Itachi's eyes widened, and he knew he didn't have the momentum to move.

"NO!" Sakura's scream rang in his ear, and then there was silence.

Itachi looked on in horror at Sakura standing in front of him, with a bite mark in her neck. She had jumped in front of him with the last ounce of chakra she had, and taken the bite meant for him. Sasuke looked up and saw that it was Sakura bitten, not Itachi and cursed darkly. Sasuke tried to stand and went at a charge toward Orochimaru, who kicked him in the face as soon as he was close enough.

"Sakura, why?" Itachi forced out, catching the girl before she fell. She smiled through the pain and looked up at him.

"You always save me, it was my turn." She whispered, and promptly passed out.

Itachi stared at the young woman in his arms, and slowly looked up to the man who had hurt her.

"Now, you will die." Itachi growled.

* * *

Sakura was all alone in a dark place she didn't know. She searched around with her eyes franticly, trying to find Itachi and Sasuke.

"Where is everyone?" she yelled. "What is going on?" But it was of no use, no one answered. Then she heard something faint, as if it was playing on a radio in another room. It was a fight, screams, clash of metal, and bodies hitting the floor. She was really scared now, because she didn't know where it was coming from. It seemed to be all around her.

The sounds stopped and then she heard voices, two of them. Her eyes brightened in recognition. It was Itachi and Sasuke! She strained her ears to hear what they were saying.

_"It doesn't look good, her body might reject the mark and if it does, she will die." _

_"She will not die, she is strong." _

_"Why do you care anyway?"_

_"She is mine now, you decided that when you threw her away."_

_"She will never be yours Itachi! She loves her village too much, she has too many precious people there. She will choose them over you in the end." _

_"I know."_

_"Then why…"_

_"I am going to let her go home. I may have her loyalty, and perhaps her heart, but I cannot have all of her."_

_"We need to find a safe place for the night." _

_"Hn."_

Sakura listened to the conversation between her former love, and her current love. She gasped at the thought.

"Do I love him?" She asked out loud.

"Of course you do!" said a voice, that defiantly did not belong to her. She looked around for the source of the voice, but could find no one.

"Hello? Where are you?" Sakura called out.

"Right here, silly!" the voice called again and then a figure started to appear before Sakura. A little girl with jet black hair and coal eyes stood before her. She was about six or seven and she was wearing a beautiful blue kimono.

"Who are you?" Sakura asked the little girl, stunned.

"Oh that's easy! My name is Yuki! And you are Sakura." The little girl said with a smile. Sakura watched the little girl closely.

"Are you related to the Uchiha clan? You look a lot like Sasuke and Itachi." Sakura moved closer to the girl for further examination.

"Now you are catching on! I am here to help you survive the curse mark. Right now, you are dying because you are not strong enough to beat it on your own." Yuki said at last, letting Sakura move in a circle around her.

"How will you help me?" Sakura asked slowly.

"By lending you my chakra of course!" She said to the dumbstruck Sakura. Yuki sighed and took Sakura's hand in her own. Sakura noticed how small and warm the little girl's hand was in her own.

"Ready? Oh and this will hurt." Yuki said.

* * *

Sakura sat up in the cave screaming. Itachi and Sasuke were at her side instantly, saying soothing words and forcing her to lay back down. Her eyes brimmed with tears and the pain, but she looked at the two men above her with pure trust and love.

"I am okay." She whispered. Itachi gently caressed her face with his hand on impulse. This lulled her back into a dreamless sleep.

"She survived the first eight hours, she will live." Sasuke said with relief. Itachi nodded and brought the blanket that was around Sakura, further up to her chin. She had had a high fever, and now that it was breaking, she was likely to get very cold.

"Sasuke, in the morning I want you to bring her back to Konoha. She will be able to get the right medical treatment there." Itachi said, looking at his little brother.

"But what about you?" Sasuke asked untrustingly.

"I have another battle to fight. One that does not concern either of you. Sakura is too weak to fight if the ones after me catch up with us. It is better this way." He said with finality.

"So you are just going to leave her…" Sasuke started, the words _"like you left me"_ hanging in the air.

Itachi stood and moved to the edge of the cave. He looked on into the darkness, seeing nothing but midnight hunters and unmoving wildlife.

"Sometimes, things are anything like they seem. We will meet again one day Sasuke, and then perhaps you will be able to defeat me. As for Sakura, you and I both know that it is best that she is kept far away from me. You are right in saying that she loves and needs her village, and being with me will take her away from that. I cannot be what she needs me to be, I cannot feel like she needs me to feel. For someone like me, love is out of reach. I have done terrible things in my life, but I have never regretted them until I met her. Take care of her little brother, keep her safe in her village and help her to live to old age. Don't let her come searching for me, ever." Itachi didn't wait for an answer, he leapt into the darkness, towards the Akatsuki strong hold for what promises to be his last battle with them.

Sasuke sat stunned in the darkness. He had never imagined that his brother was as human as he just portrayed himself just then. He nodded to the darkness, he accepted the mission given to him from his brother. He had once thought that his brother was the coolest, best brother in the whole world, and that faith was crushed when he killed their family. In those moments he said his goodbye, he proved that he could be that brother again. That for, if only and instant, he could be the strong, loyal brother Sasuke once knew.

Sasuke looked down on the young woman laying in front of him. He would do as Itachi asked, he would make sure she was happy, and that she lived to old age. Perhaps not as a lover or husband, like she once thought many years before; but as a friend, a brother.

Sakura shifted in her sleep and whispered Itachi's name. Sasuke brushed a stray lock of hair out of her face and gave a small smile.

* * *

Sakura was asleep though most of the travel to Konoha, she would wake up here and there, but was never fully conscious to know what was going on. Sasuke finally reached the gates of his old village, where he was greeted by ANBU.

Sakura was rushed to the infirmary and Sasuke was taken to the Hokage's tower for questioning.

Tsunade walked in and sat behind her desk with a sigh, looking on at the young Uchiha that had made her life hell for years.

"Okay, get on with it." She said after a long pause.

Sasuke told the whole story, not leaving a single detail out. He told about his plan to get to Naruto through Sakura, and how Sakura was saved by Itachi. He went on to tell how Itachi had come for Sakura when she was captured by Orochimaru, and told how she jumped in front of Itachi to save him from being struck by the curse mark. He went into the battle between Orochimaru and Itachi, describing how Itachi had become unstoppable when Sakura was injured, and how Orochimaru was finally killed and ripped to pieces from Itachi's attacks.

Then Sasuke told Tsunade what Itachi had told him before he left him and Sakura in the cave. Tsunade sat quietly; listening in awe of everything she was being told. Sasuke finished his report and was taken away by ANBU to his old compound where he was to be kept under guard until she decided what to do with him.

Tsunade collected her thoughts and went down to the room where Sakura was being kept. She opened the door quietly and let herself in. She noticed that Sakura was finally awake and that she was staring out the window, not even noticing her old sensei come in.

"There are some things we have to talk about." Tsunade said, breaking the silence. Sakura didn't respond, but nodded her head and turned her eyes to her Hokage.

"Sakura, what were you thinking getting into a… a… _relationship_ with Itachi Uchiha? You had to have known that it wouldn't have ended well, that he could have killed you at any moment, and that it was considered treason to this village…" Tsunade stopped upon seeing the tears in Sakura's eyes. Tsunade sighed and took a seat at the side of Sakura's bed.

"I was so worried, not knowing if you were alive or dead. You are like a daughter to me Sakura." She said softly, taking Sakura's hand.

"I am sorry, its just… he isn't what I thought he was. He is so smart, and strong, and he even made a joke for me! He protected me, rescued me, and made me feel stronger that I really am. Tsunade- sama, I love him. I know its wrong and its treason, but I cant help what I feel." She whispered. Tsunade nodded in understanding.

"I cant let you go after him, nor can I allow him back into this village. But I wont fault you for your feelings." Tsunade said standing up. She moved to the door and then stopped.

"Sakura… there is something I need to tell you." She turned to face her student. Sakura looked up and nodded.

"You're pregnant."

* * *

A/N: We are getting closer to the end, a cookie for the ones that picked up that she was pregnant before I said it! Please read and review! 


	12. Past and Present

Disclaimer: READ THE OTHER DISCLAIMERS

Chapter 12

Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months, and Sakura could no longer hide her growing tummy from the world. The few that she told when she learned herself, had taken it pretty well and had thankfully not put her down about it. Sakura was living in an apartment with Ino, who had declared herself Aunty Ino as soon as Sakura told her. She watched Sakura like a mother hen, and made sure Sakura ate right and didn't stress herself out too much. Kakashi was another one, he would show up randomly and give her a back rub to relive the pressure in her lower back. Naruto had bought the baby all manner of things orange, much to Ino's distaste. But it was Sasuke who was the most comforting during this time. Even though it was his brother's child, he pushed aside all negative thoughts and was always there for Sakura. He was the shoulder to cry on, and the ear to listen.

It was on a cold winter's morning that Yuki Uchiha was born. Sakura knew as soon as the child was put in her arms, that this was the little girl who had saved her life. Yuki was perfect in every way, with her father's black hair and coal eyes, and her mother's beauty. Sakura was happy, but there was something that could make her happier, Itachi.

* * *

After leaving Sakura in that cave with his brother, Itachi had started to put his plan to destroy the Akatsuki. He started by contacting those whom he thought would show the most loyalty. Deidara, who had never wanted to join in the first place, readily agreed. Kisame also agreed to assist Itachi because of their long partnership. Tobi joined Itachi because Deidara was joining and nobody expected any different. On a cold winter's morning, the four strategically attacked the remaining Akatsuki. Being in the organization for so long, they knew each other's fighting styles, and more importantly, their weaknesses. The sudden attack caught the Akatsuki off guard and within a month, the organization was destroyed. The ones who made it out alive, scattered to the four corners of the earth, when the Leader was cut down by Itachi. The demons sealed within the statue were permanently sealed and the cave was filled in with earth, so no one could ever get their hands on such a powerful weapon ever again.

Itachi disappeared off of the radar as well. No one knew where he went or what became of him.

* * *

"Yuki! You're late!" Sakura chided as her six year old daughter came sneaking into the house.

"I'm sorry mommy, I got lost on the road of life!" Yuki replied.

"You got that from Kakashi didn't you? Wait until I give him a piece of my mind." She mumbled, taking the chicken out of the oven.

"Guess what Uncle Sasuke taught me!" Yuki squealed, taking a seat at the table, with her chin resting on her hands.

"What did Uncle Sasuke teach you?" Sakura smiled.

"The fireball jutsu! He said that I learned it faster then he did!" Yuki said proudly. Sakura shook her head.

_She defiantly has her father's strength._ She said to herself.

"Go wash up, dinner is almost ready." Sakura said, messing up her daughter's raven black hair.

"Ugh! Yes mommy." She said with a pout. Sakura finished putting the food on the table when a knock came at her door. She narrowed her brows and wiped her hands on her apron. _Who could this be?_

She opened the door to find a tall dark figure standing there. Her breath caught in her throat.

"Itachi?" She breathed, and promptly passed out. When she came too, she was laying on her couch, with a very real Itachi standing above her.

"How… when … you're…" She sputtered, trying to find the right words.

"Sakura, its been a long time." Itachi smiled and bent down in front of her.

"Mommy! I am Huuuuungry!" a small voice came from the bathroom and Yuki came skipping into the living room, stopping short when she saw her mother half sitting half laying on the couch with a strange man crouched in front of her.

"Yuki, umm, Itachi this is Yuki my daughter." Sakura introduced awkwardly. Itachi carefully studied the small girl.

"Hello, Mr. Itachi. You know you look an awful lot like my Uncle Sasuke. Do you know him? He taught me this really cool fireball jutsu today. Mommy, how come I've never met Mr. Itachi?" Yuki rambled, breaking Sakura out of her stunned state.

"Yuki, why don't you go and start on dinner, Mr. Itachi and I have to talk for a few moments." Sakura said, standing up.

"Alright." Yuki smiled and then bowed to Itachi. "It was really nice meeting you." She said politely and skipped into the kitchen humming a tune.

"Sakura, is she…" Itachi couldn't finish. He never imagined that he could be capable of creating another life.

"She is your daughter." Sakura finished heavily. She never imagined Itachi finding out like this.

"Is she strong?" Itachi asked, not really knowing what to say.

"Very, she is at the top of her class at the ninja academy, and she already can use her sharingan. Its amazing how talented she really is." Sakura said, avoiding Itachi's eyes.

"I would expect no less from my daughter. She has your beauty Sakura, and unfortunately, your ability to talk." Itachi quipped. Sakura laughed at that, for the first time in a long time, she really laughed.

"Yes, she can certainly talk. She can also make most of the boys in her class cry. I get angry mothers at my door every ten minutes." She laughed. Itachi cracked a smile and then reached up around his neck and removed his necklace. He handed it to Sakura.

"Please, give this to her." Itachi said with all seriousness. Sakura nodded and took the necklace, placing it in her apron.

"Wait, are you leaving again? You just show up out of the blue and now you are going to leave me. Please Itachi, stay, if not for me, then stay for Yuki. I'm sure I can talk to Tsunade and make her realize that you aren't this big monster. Please…" Sakura pleaded, but knew it was no use. Itachi would leave her.

"There are still things I must do, I am sorry Sakura." He said simply, and left.

Sakura stood in the doorway looking out into the dark night, she knew he could never stay with her. To do so would put her and her daughter at a high risk, if Itachi's many enemies knew that he had two people precious to him in the world, they would use them against him. Sakura understood, but it still hurt to watch him leave, only moments after learning he had a daughter.

"Mommy! Are you going to eat?" Yuki called from the kitchen. Sakura dried her eyes and went to join her daughter.

* * *

A/N: We are nearing the end. One more chapter, THANK GOODNESS! This has got to be the hardest story to write… ever. Sorry for the long time no update, I get lost on the road of life sometimes… 


	13. Peace At Last

Disclaimer: READ THE OTHER DISCLAIMERS

Chapter 13

Itachi moved through the woods quickly, never pausing for a moment. There were things he needed to get done, people to kill. The meeting with Sakura had not gone like he had thought it would. For one thing, he never imagined that Sakura would have had a child, or his for that matter.

Originally, he was going to ask Sakura to come with him for a while. Not as a missing nin, but more like take an extended vacation for her health. During those years that he was fighting the Akatsuki, he had missed Sakura fiercely. At first he attributed the feeling to the Gods still having a hold on him, but as time went on he realized that he truly enjoyed the time they had together. Granted, it was usually running from someone, or rescuing her from certain peril, but it was memorable. When he saw that she had a daughter to care for, Itachi couldn't ask Sakura to come with him. It would not be fair to take a mother from her child or vise versa. As for bringing the child along, it wouldn't be fair to throw having a father show up out of the blue and then whisk them away.

He realized that they could never be a happy little family; his past would never allow it, but he could make the world safer for them.

* * *

Sakura watched her daughter turn over in her sleep, a peaceful smile on her face. She had never doubted that Itachi would come back someday, but to just come for a moment and then leave again. She brushed a tear from her eye and took the necklace out of her pocket. Silently, she clasped the necklace around her daughter's neck.

Sakura had told Yuki about how that man that came by, was really her biological father.

_"Yuki, Mr. Itachi isn't just a friend of mommy's, he is your daddy." Sakura spoke carefully, not wanting to upset her daughter._

_"Oh, well I guess that would make sense." Yuki had calmly responded, and took another bite of her food_.

Yuki was wise beyond her years, but the way she understood things was almost inhuman. Sakura sighed and left her daughter's room quietly.

* * *

For the next ten years, Itachi would be a semi constant figure in the women's lives. He would spend a day with Sakura, and then teach Yuki jutsu and be gone before ANBU realized that he was there. It was a strange sort of existence, but it was comfortable for them. It continued this way until news that Itachi had been killed by an up in coming S-rank criminal.

Sakura cried for days, not only for the loss of her lover and the father of her child, but for the death of a person who had only just begun to try to right the wrongs he committed in his life.

Three days after the body of Itachi Uchiha was brought back to the village and buried, Sakura was brought into the intensive care unit at the hospital. After a hour of trying to save her, Sakura's heart had finally given out.

"Why?" Yuki asked her Uncle Sasuke as she stood before the graves of her parents. She was not crying, but merely asking a simple question, one that Sasuke could not answer.

"Come on Yuki." Sasuke turned away from the graves as started heading home. Yuki turned to follow but then paused. A warm breeze brushed past her, making her smile. Her parents were there.

* * *

"You think she will be okay?" Sakura asked Itachi nervously.

"She is our daughter, she will be more than fine." He assured. "I don't think I could be more proud, making ANBU captain at 17."

"She takes after her father." Sakura smiled, and squeezed Itachi's hand with her own.

"Those Gods nearly drove us nuts didn't they?" Sakura asked with a laugh.

"Yeah, and to think it was all for her, Yuki Uchiha the seventh Hokage. The Peace-Bringer, and youngest to ever become Hokage. It all worked out in the end."

"I agree. Yuki was born, your soul was saved, my loneliness was broken, and we have each other for eternity. Not a bad deal." Sakura brushed her hand through her daughter's hair, making her turn and smile.

"Let's go now Sakura." Itachi whispered.

* * *

A/N: I couldn't see this story ending any other way. So it was a sad/cute/informative ending. So the Gods had a purpose after all. Please read and review, this will probably be the LAST Sakura/Itachi story I write unless I get A LOT of requests to do another. Please check out my other stories if you haven't already. Set Me Free, Ari's Trilogy, and The Rogue. The Rogue is my newest, and the one that is currently taking up all my thoughts.

Thank you ALL very very very super much for all the beautiful reviews you sent me. It is really helpful and encouraging.


End file.
